Kukla's Korner Hockey

Byfuglien has picked up where he left off in the playoffs with 4 goals in the Hawks’ first eight games. Standing in front of the net is not Byfuglien’s favorite role, but it is helping make him a star.

“It’s my job now, and I guess I don’t really have a choice to do it or I don’t know where I’d be,” Byfuglien said. “It’s all right. It’s growing on me. It’s fun and you get to play with the good players and get better opportunities to be out there more.”

Having a strong presence in front of the net is a key in Quenneville’s system, and Byfuglien has quickly become one of the better players in the NHL at bothering goaltenders.

“He found a niche there and it has helped his game,” Quenneville said. “Over the course of (last) year he was just going through it where he was just an ordinary player, but getting to that level where all of a sudden he was a factor in games and dominating games and being annoying for other teams and being a major distraction in front of the net, he filled that role extremely well.